JEDDAH, 26 March 2008 — The Consulate General of India is serious about starting an international Indian school in Makkah. “We have submitted the proposal to authorities concerned and are hopeful about their formal approval,” Indian Consul General Ausaf Sayeed said Monday night.
International Indian School-Jeddah (IISJ), started in 1969, has about 10,000 students on its rolls and a sizeable number of them commute from the holy city to the IISJ daily.
Sayeed, who was speaking at the launch of International Indian School’s interactive website at its boys school auditorium, announced a 10 percent raise in the pay of teachers and five percent for non-teaching staff. The salary raise should act as an encouragement to the staff in discharging their duties, he added. The consulate has been overseeing the operations of the community’s Western Province schools including those in Taif and Tabuk.
Sayeed said the presence of two chartered accountants in the managing committee had made the difference in the financial results of the school. “Even the higher board of education (that governs Indian schools) has praised the budget planning process of the school,” he added.
The salary hike for the school staff follows a SR3.2 million profit posted by the school. He congratulated the school’s current seven-member managing committee, headed by Chairman Shoheb Kazi, for “turning the school into a profitable institution from a loss-making one.”
He hoped the profit would be judiciously spent on various aspects of development including providing additional classrooms, regularization of temporary teachers, and upgrading and updating various equipment and facilities.
“The rules governing Indian schools in the Kingdom should be codified and a system so developed that all of us should be proud,” Sayeed said.
He suggested that the kidergarten section of the school should be separated “as the children deserve a separate environment.”
He described the website prepared by P.M. Tajuddin, a managing committee member, as a pioneering effort.